Hi all,
I just joined the forum yesterday and my account was just activated this morning. That said I decided I’d post here to introduce myself and ask my question.
Well first off I’m 29 years old and a recent member of the Moog family, so to speak. My interest came about primarily as a result of recently taking an interest in the music of French composer Jean Michel Jarre, although I don’t honestly know if he uses many Moog synthes in his work. Needless to say though, Jarre’s music has led me to an intense fascination with synthesizers and how they work.
I am a musician myself, although I’m not yet particularly good with either of my chosen instruments. I play the guitar, I have one electric and one acoustic, and more recently a Moog Etherwave theremin, standard model. We can thank my brother for that, since he was the one who recommended I try my hand at the theremin.
I suppose before I go any farther I should point out the fact that I am and have been totally blind since birth. Needless to say when I learned that the theremin is played without being touched I initially thought it would be hard if not impossible for a blind person to learn to play. While I still do sound like a cat fight in a sewer pipe when I practice I can already tell that once I can get my stance right and improve my muscle memory I can actually learn to play something that actually sounds good.
But my real question has to do with the Little Phatty, hence posting in this particular section of the forum. I’ve heard from several people over the last year or so that Moog synthes like the LP were fairly blind friendly and was hoping that someone on these forums, this being Moog Music, might be able to shed some light on this matter. Specifically what I heard, from a few blind friends in fact, was that the LP synthes could be outfitted with software that a totally blind person could interface with. My question, or perhaps questions would be more accurate, is simply this: if what I’d heard has any truth in it, and if so, how it would work. So basically what I’m really trying to find out is if the Little Phatty would be worth a blind person saving up for.
Anyway I’ll go ahead and close this for now. I’d appreciate any feedback you folks can give me. After listening to so much of Jarre’s music and more recently after hearing the video tutorials by Jordan Rudess on Youtube, I’m really excited to try my hand at this business.
Welcome to the forum. I’m not sure if there is an actual software geared towards that sort of thing. However, the panel layout on the Little Phatty is pretty cut and dry, a joy to program! It could be easily memorized it if you practiced with it a bit. The trick would be getting a braille copy of the manual or a way to listen to it.
Hope this helps.
I actually have a download of the manual already. I’ve spent a lot of time reading it, but since none of the music stores in the town where I live has any units to demo it’s not very clear.
Hi,
if you have a theremin plus then you could control a Little Phatty by CV(voltage control.) -You can also upgrade from a standard theremin.-
Combine that with some modwheelin’ and key action…I think that could be interesting.
Check out Moog’s channel on MySpace, Youtube..
Also, considering that Stevie Wonder learned to handle an ARP 2600, ..
Fair nuff. A Guitar Center or Sam Ash (I loathe both places, but what can you do) may order one for you to try. It’s one of the most “playable” synths I’ve ever owned. Inspiring, versatile, and pretty powerful. I’m gonna miss it when I sell it!
I definitely love the sound of the Little Phatty. I listened to all those vids on Youtube that Jordan Rudess did. Pretty nifty.
Most of the programming of the Little Phatty is done from the front panel. I imagine it wouldn’t be too difficult to learn the location of the buttons that determine what each knob controls and to learn the location of the knobs. I know that I use the Little Phatty often without any visual cues and have developed a comfortable relationship with it. The learning curve wasn’t very steep for me.
The downside to the Little Phatty is that some of the functionality is controlled by an LCD screen that wouldn’t give you any feedback. Presets are stored/recalled via this screen, which could be an issue. The “advanced preset” options are from this screen, as well - things like arpeggiator settings.
I think that a synth like the Voyager Old School would potentially be a better fit. It has no screens and each function has its own knob/switch. Unfortunately, it lacks presets and is more expensive.
Welcome to the forum!
Bryan
Welcome to the forum! The Little Phatty is a wonderful instrument, but I agree with Bryan T in that the Voyager Old School would probably be a better way for a blind person to go. The front panel of the LP is intuitive enough and simple to use, but the menu of the operating system is another story.
It seems to me the Little Phatty and Little Phatty Editor Librarian would be the way to go. That’s under the assumption the computer will be transcribing what’s on the screen to you somehow.
I actually think the Phatty’s layout would be superior the the Voyager OS, in this instance. Much less cluttered and easier to remember than a Voyager OS too. Also, the Little Phatty can be played with complete disregard to the menus (as if there were none), just like an Old School…just my two cents tho.
Old School.
No presets seems impractical.
Menus are too. There is a trade off. Ultimately the LP may be easier, this is true.
Welcome to the forum.
I have been pondering your question all day. Here are my thoughts.
The little phatty would be an excellent synth minus the the fact that an lcd screen is used to get to a few important things like midi, the arp, calibration,changing number of filter polls, some routing and other stuff. But even if you never used the menus,(I hardly ever get into my menu accept to change the number of filter polls) You still have alot of synth left. I use the cp251 for noise and sample and hold when ever i can get by that way. The panel has basicly 30 buttons you use to assign parameters to four knobs, the nice thing im thinking about this layout, would be that there would be plenty of room to have the control functions labeled in brail and get to them quickly.
If you can afford it a voyager old school would probably be easier to use more of the synth and it would have plenty of room for marking all functions in brail. It doesnt have midi.
There is a third synth (sorry Moog) that is more in the little phattys price range made by Future Retro called the XS that is a rack mount synth with no lcd screen a knob for every function including midi. That might be easy to use all the functions.
I have a Future Retro XS. It is a nice unit.
I would think presets would be a handy feature to have for someone who is blind. I’m not blind, and I find them essential for live performance. It boils down to whether or not you need presets. Is it important to you to build a patch, save it, and retrieve it at a later time? Otherwise, to get a sound you once created, you would have to jot down the controls settings on paper and read them again. I don’t know how difficult or time consuming that would be for someone completely blind. How easy would it be to set all the pots on an Old School? I would think it would be a lot easier on a Phatty.
Welcome to the forums i recently picked up my virus TI from a blind person he bought a ti2 not sure how he navigated those screens. The little phatty seems like it would be blind friendly as stated or even some older poly analogs would be a great choice as well. for example a juno 106 or 60. Well anyways stopped in to say hi.
One thing that i would like to say while we are all giving our heart felt suggestions to Bryan. Is the fact that he was deprived of sight, to learn to get by in a world that is not too thoughtful of people with disabilities, his hearing is more than likely highly developed and amazing. So while his sight may be a disability his hearing would put all of ours to shame. (yes even us with perfect pitch) If you can learn to cross a street safely just by using you ears, then learning and remembering what every knob does and what effect it has on sound on a synth will be a piece of cake for you. More than likely you will understand your synth you get in a different way than the rest of us giving you advice, I’m thinking possibly better or at least more complete because an instruments primary purpose is to make sound. Your ears have been doing the job of your eyes for a long time and I’m thinking you have such a highly developed sense of hearing that programming patches from scratch would be easier for you than the rest of us once you learn your synth. I think you could get to the point that you could dial up any sound in a matter of seconds possibly faster than someone with sight because your brain doesn’t have to get input from your eyes to start something its just waiting for the sound to come in. I apologize if my assumptions are incorrect. Anyway good luck on your quest, it should be fun. Nice to meet you.
gazer
Hi Bryan,
Out of the 5 synths I have the Phatty is easiest to use. If you are new to synthesisers then perhaps all the extra functions buried in the menu won’t matter so much at first anyway. Even with visual feedback, many people are put off by LCD menus and go for what is within easy reach. That aside, the LP menu system for most functions is pretty straightforward and doesn’t have many sub menus.
The one thing I’m sure everybody on the forum can agree with is that Moog are an exceptionally helpful company who give a high level of personalised support regarding their products. Perhaps they may be able to make some simple customisations to the hardware or software to help you get the best out of the Little Phatty. I suggest if you haven’t already done so you make an enquiry to Amos.
Good luck and all the best! Tangsonghe
Thanks for all the suggestions. I actually had a little chat on Youtube with thereminist Thomas Grillo, who incidentally happens to be legally, though not totally blind, and he told me that he did indeed have a blind friend who’d gotten a modified LP from Moog Music. THe changes weren’t quite what I was expecting, something along the lines of either speach in the menus or audible cues whenever a setting was changed, maybe a preview of what the new effect would sound like. Actually what they apparently did was make some modifications to the menu interface, though I’m not entirely sure what that would have implied, making them easier to navigate without having to rely on the display. And he did say to talk to Amos since apparently he was the one who helped this girl. Just gives me more incentive to get a job, save up some money and pay my credit card down so I can buy an LP of my own. I am curious though about what the LP would look like. Judging from what the manual said however, it does sound like a unit small enough that I could keep it in my studio apartment.